Leaderboard

Hi Guys- Some of you have followed my build of Rosie, an Outer Banks 26. After all of the time and effort put into her creation it has been such a pleasure to spend lots of time aboard this Summer. Luanne and I would head out for 2-4 nights most weeks exploring the wonderful cruising grounds in our own back yard, the Gulf Islands. Some of the places we would anchor in were less than 10 miles from our home. We recently decided to go further afield and head up to Desolation Sound for a couple of weeks. In normal years the beautiful anchorages up there are crowded with large yachts coming from south of the border (US, that is). With the border being closed and the high season over it was the ideal time to provision and head north. Rosie was a bit lower in the water when we took off with lots of water, fuel and food aboard. This was to be a 2 week trip that morphed into 18 days. We didn’t want it to end! Towards the end of the second week out the smoke from fires hundreds of miles south of us was making visibility difficult. I added radar this year and was very glad to have it when motoring through the smokey veil. We hunkered down in a beautiful anchorage on West Rodona Island for a few more days then planned and skipped a few other spots since there was nothing to see at this point anyway. With the poor visibility and the beautiful weather forecasted to change we headed south. Our passages across the Straight of Georgia and through Dodd Narrows, two possible places for some excitement were pussycats. Careful monitoring of weather and tides as well as a boat that has some speed really reduces possible exposure to conditions that make for good stories. As we motored along we talked about how we would improve Rosie. There wasn’t much to say. Seeing all of huge logs in the water I think I would go up a size in the bottom planking. I will make a minor change to the head. Next season we will have a couple of kayaks or surfskis along, an electric outboard and a solar panel. Rosebud, our modified Spindrift 9 is a great tender. Light weight, spacious and rows beautifully. I like “picking up my toys” every night to avoid a midnight fire drill should conditions deteriorate. The “Kencrane” that Graham designed made hoisting the dinghy aboard a near effortless procedure. The layout, performance and aesthetic are spot on. The Wallas stove/heater is one of the best decisions we made as far as equipment goes. The Sarca Excell Anchor I added this season made for restful nights. I have come out of the dark ages and have become a believer in electronic navigation and radar. In every anchorage we had people making me blush with compliments on her. Can’t say I minded that much:). We have been back a week and we are both looking forward to heading out again tomorrow or the next day for a few more days. Winter closes in fast here and every weather window needs to be taken advantage of now. Here are some pics of our summer aboard. https://photos.app.goo.gl/cjr3XpU9jhhJXdzW8 Cheers, Ken